The Hunters
by GoldenEagle15
Summary: A Sorian Marine unit created to hunt down and destroy pirates is thrown headlong into the furious fighting of the Clone Wars. (References will be made to the movies, Clone Wars TV show, and related media. The Sorians are a species of my own design. Enjoy!)
1. Prologue

**I do not own Star Wars. I wish I did, but I don't. The Sorians are a species of my own design. They are not connected to any other item, Star Wars or otherwise. I am looking for any sort of feedback. Enjoy!**

**Prologue**

The captain was home free. The Alderaanian freighter had dropped out of hyperspace right where the informant had said it would. The raid had gone off without a hitch and he and his crew had left with millions of credits worth of jewels and precious metals. Now they were headed to refuge on Nar Shaddaa. As the captain fingered a rainbow jewel from Gallinore, he thought about how he would repay the informant. He was debating between a blaster bolt to the head and a hundred thousand credits when he felt his ship lurch out of hyperspace. He glanced at his crono, looked away, and then whipped back. The crono revealed that they had not been in hyperspace long enough to have arrived. Filled with a sudden anxiety the captain raced for the bridge.

"Captain!" his first mate exclaimed when he arrived on the bridge, "We've got company!" The captain raced for the viewport and his eyes widened. In front of them were at least two warships, small but heavily armed, and a small space station, gravity-well projectors sticking out from several locations.

"I told you we shouldn't have taken that "perfect" route!" the first mate yelled. The captain paid him no mind, even though it had been his idea to go off the beaten path of fixed hyperspace lanes to avoid any possible pursuit. The two warships were bearing down on his ship with astonishing speed. Suddenly they opened fire. The massive bolts of blue energy seared across space and slammed into the pirate ship's unshielded hull.

"We're taking heavy fire!" the shield operator yelled.

"I can see that!" the captain replied, "Raise the shields and fire all cannons! Get us out of here!" The crew barked an affirmative. However, before they could do anything a huge missile came streaking out of the lead warship. A missile from the tail ship joined it. The pirate gunners tried to shoot them down but the missiles jinked and juked to avoid their fire. What few bolts that did hit glanced off the obviously heavily armored projectiles. When they got close the missiles split into numerous smaller warheads. The captain gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as the missiles hit.

"We've lost our engines!" the damage control officer yelled over the explosion, "And our shields!"

"All heavy cannons are down!" the weapons officer said. The heavy cannons aboard the hostile warships had stopped firing now. However the smaller cannons began picking off every single one of the pirate ship's lighter cannons and missile launchers until they were all destroyed. The two warships then began to come towards the pirate vessel. They got closer and closer until the captain thought he could reach right out and touch them. Two massive doors slid open in the belly of the lead ship and the pirate ship began to be pulled towards it. The captain knew they had been caught in a tractor beam.

"Prepare to repel boarders!" the captain yelled. His crew all grabbed blasters and raced for the docking port. The captain grabbed his lucky pistol and followed. The crew reached the port and took up positions. They waited anxiously for something to happen until suddenly two pinpoints of laser cut through the top of the port. They each began cutting half of a sizeable hole in the armored door. When they reached the floor there was a second of anxious silence until the human-sized piece of durasteel was suddenly blown inwards, taking out several pirates as it shot along the corridor. Three small cylinders then flew through the doorway. The captain recognized them instantly.

"Flashbangs!" he yelled, "Get down!" The crew scrambled to drop the blast shields on their helmets and cover their ears. Some weren't quick enough, and when the grenades went off they were left writhing on the floor, rendered blind and deaf by the explosions. That's when the pirates were flooded by a wave of heavily armored foes. Most had full-faced helmets; those that didn't gave a clear view of inhuman blue skin.

"What the heck are these things!?" one of the pirates yelled as he fired, "Chiss!?"

"No!" the first mate yelled, "Look at the eyes on that one; they aren't red!" True enough, one of the strange aliens had their helmet visor up. It had blue skin alright, but its eyes were human with blue irises, not fully red like those of the Chiss.

The pirates fought desperately against their foes, but they were far outmatched. Their enemies wore full body armor that seemed to be impenetrable. On the other hand, the hostile troops were cutting down the pirate forces with calm, precise bursts from their blaster rifles. The captain watched pirate after pirate fall, but it wasn't until the Zabrak next to him caught a burst square in the chest that he noticed they weren't actually being killed. They were being hit with stun rounds; the enemy was obviously trying to bring them in alive. The captain checked the Zabrak to make sure. Then he looked up to see a blaster barrel staring back at him. The blaster fired and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1

THE HUNTERS

Chapter 1

Sorian Marine captain Kilro Azzri walked the halls of the pirate ship. It was a CR90 class, obviously heavily modified with additional cannons, souped-up engines, and bolted-on missile launchers. The rest of his boarding party scurried around the vessel, scanning for hidden cargo or sticking restraining bolts on the pirate droids. As he walked, Kilro thought about how lucky he was. On his unit's first day of action they had reduced by one the number of pirate scum terrorizing the galaxy.

Kilro finished his tour of the ship and headed for the cargo bay. After the stun rounds had worn off the pirate crew had been rounded up, restrained, and taken to the bay to await transport to one of the Sorian Navy ships circling the vessel. They would then be taken to the Sorian homeworld of Sori to await trial. Kilro had no doubt they would be convicted. There was enough proof of that in the cargo bay. The pirate captain had tried to convince him that the crates were part of his cargo, but the Alderaanian seal on the crates said otherwise. Kilro also thought himself lucky that the ship had entered an area where all ships not broadcasting a Sorian IFF were to be detained without question. Under any other circumstances he would have been forced to hail the vessel first, which would have made their story about being a lost cargo ship much more convincing.

Kilro arrived in the cargo bay and crossed his arms. The about twenty pirates and 10 plus droids that made up the pirate crew were scattered around the room. Most were sitting down, their wrist and ankle binders held in front. The ones most likely to cause trouble were on their knees, their binders behind their backs. Two Sorian marines stood watch over them, blaster rifles held at the ready.

As Kilro stood in the doorway he examined the crew. Ten were human, but there were two Zabraks, two Rodians, three Weequay, a Twi-lek, a Huuk, and a Chagrian as well. Most were male, but one of the Zabraks, one of the Rodians, and the Twi-lek were female. All wore dirty flightsuits and helmets with ear covers and blast shields. Some, obviously the enforcers, also wore patchwork body armor. Many sported scars.

Tired of simply staring at this ragtag band Kilro spoke a command into his helmet's communications system. Seemingly on impulse, the two marines herded the pirates into a pack in front of their captain. Kilro pulled his helmet off, noticing some surprised looks as he revealed his blue skin, and spoke to the group.

"I am Captain Kilro Azzri of the Sorian Marine Corps," he said commandingly, "You all are charged with entering a restricted area without required authorization, possession of stolen items, and of course, piracy." The pirates continued to stare at him.

"In a few moments you will be escorted to the Lance-class frigate _Tormentor_," Kilro continued, "From there you will be transported to Sori, where you will be put on trial." The pirates continued to stare, but Kilro noticed fear on their faces. He waved to his men, who nudged the pirates to their feet. The not-so-merry band trudged away down the hall. Suddenly Kilro's comlink began to beep.

"Kilro here," he said, raising the comlink to his mouth.

"We're receiving a message from command," a voice replied.

"Roger that," Kilro said, "I'll be right there." Kilro replaced his helmet and made his way through the corridors of the pirate ship to his own ship, the _Hydra_. Once aboard he rode the turbolift to the bridge and walked up to the central holoprojector. The captain of the _Hydra_,Captain Laris Cooms, was conversing with the holoimage of a tall man in Sorian Navy dress whites, admirals' insignia displayed proudly on his collar. Kilro stood before him and saluted.

"At ease, Captain," the admiral said, "Excellent work neutralizing that pirate scum."

"Thank you sir," Kilro replied, "Just doing my job." The admiral nodded.

"Of course," he said, "Now to business." The admiral stepped back and two more holoimages appeared. One was of a tall human with a scar across his eye. The other was a young Togruta female. Both carried lightsabers.

"This is Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano," the admiral said, "For the next deployment rotation you will be under their command." Captain Kilro nodded. He had expected this to happen eventually. Even though the Sorians had been hidden from the galaxy for the last few millennia, ever since they had been revealed by the Republic and agreed to help them fight the Great Galactic War and the following conflicts up until the Battle of Ruusan, a few months ago a Republic convoy had once again revealed them to the galaxy. The Sorians had recently agreed to assist the Republic in its war against the Sepratists. Kilro turned to the Jedi and saluted. The Jedi bowed in return.

"Aurek Company, 5th Sorian Marine Regiment is at your command, General Skywalker," Kilro said.

"Good to hear it Captain," the Jedi replied, "The _Resolute _is almost at your coordinates, stand by." The holoimage flickered out. Kilro turned to Captain Cooms.

"Have all the prisoners been detained?" he asked.

"Affirmative," Cooms replied. Kilro nodded and keyed his comlink to the company frequency.

"All Aurek company personnel report to the hangar bay immediately," he said. Just as he finished the sentence a long, sleek warship slid out of hyperspace in front of the _Hydra_. "Our ride is here."


End file.
